21st Dubai Open
Dubai Chess & Culture Club, UAE
April 1-9, 2019
Final Top Standings
1-8. GM (Grandmaster) Maxim Matlakov RUS 2692, GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov UZB 2578, GM Le Quang Liem VIE 2711, GM Yuriy Kuzubov UKR 2653, GM Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli VEN 2633, GM Vahap Sanal TUR 2513, GM Aleksandar Indjic SRB 2592, IM P Iniyan IND 2512, 7.0/9
9-15. GM Ahmed Adly EGY 2620, GM Mikheil Mcheedlishvili GEO 2610, GM Chakkravarthy J Deepan IND 2534, GM Enre Can TUR 2599, GM Chithambaram Vr Aravindh IND 2602, GM Das Debashis IND 2538, IM NR Vignesh IND 2457, 6.5/9
Number of Participants: 163 players
Time Control: 90 minutes play-to-finish with 30 seconds added to your clock after every move starting move 1
The traditional Dubai Open was held in the first week of April this year with a starting list of 31 international grandmasters, 24 international masters, two woman grandmasters and eight woman international masters. The top seed was Vietnamese GM Le Quang Liem (the only player who is 2700+) followed by Maxim Matlakov (RUS 2692), Yuriy Kuzubov (UKR 2653), Sandro Mareco (ARG 2651) and Venezuela’s first GM Eduardo Iturrizaga Bonelli (2633). As is common with these big international opens nowadays, there were a total of 80 Indians participating. This is because their country’s federation supports their travel abroad to compete. They are really serious about retaining and even exceeding India’s current status as the No. 4 chess power in the world!
After nine fighting rounds there was an 8-way tie for first place and upon application of the tie-breaks it was the 28-year-old St. Petersburg GM Maxim Matlakov who claimed the top prize of $13,000 (about P690,000). This was his second successive tie for first place in an international open. Just last month GM Maxim figured in a logjam for first place in the Sharjah Masters which took place 30 kilometers away. This was a similar event as the Dubai Open and had 178 participants with 37 GMs present. In Sharjah the tie-breaks relegated him to 5th behind Ernesto Inarkiev (RUS 692), Wang Hao (CHN 2718), Kryvoruchko (UKR 2680) and Alireza Firouzja (IRI 2657).
GM Maxim Sergeevich Matlakov, born March 5, 1991 in St. Petersburg, was the European Individual Chess Champion in 2017. He is also known as the long-time second of fellow St. Petersburg native Peter Svidler during his world championship quests starting 2013. This is probably his best game from Dubai.
Matlakov, Maxim (2692) — Deepan, Chakkravarthy J. (2534) [D78]
21st Dubai Open 2019 Dubai Chess & Culture Club (6.1), 06.04.2019
Playing Black is GM Chakkravarthy Deepan, a native of Madurai, the 3rd largest city in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu. He is 31 years old and known as a hard worker, practicing 4–5 hours a day at the minimum.
1.c4 c6 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 g6 5.b3 Bg7 6.Bb2 0–0 7.0–0 Bg4 8.d4 Nbd7 9.Nc3 Bxf3
Deepan goes for the most combative idea in the position.
10.Bxf3 e5 11.cxd5 exd4 12.Na4
[12.dxc6 leads to a very double-edged position. After 12…dxc3 13.cxb7 Rb8 14.Bxc3 where White has three pawns for his piece and the two bishops. Durarbayli, V (2543)-Nyback, T (2636) Plovdiv 2012 1/2 56.
12…c5 13.b4!
White’s “knight on the rim is dim” and so he attacks the opposing pawn center right away.
13…b6 14.Rc1 Rc8 15.Ba3 Ne5?!
Deepan goes for complications. He is hoping for something like 16.Bg2 after which 16…Bh6 17.Rb1 Nc4 or 17.Rc2 Qd7 both favorable to him.
16.bxc5 Nxf3+ 17.exf3 b5? <D>
POSITION AFTER 27…B5
Did Chakkravarthy honest think that White would withdraw his knight to b2? Of course 17…Qxd5 was relatively best. After 18.cxb6 Rxc1 19.Qxc1 Re8 20.bxa7 Qa5 he will only be a pawn down.
18.d6! Qd7
Accepting the sacrifice with 18…bxa4 19.c6 is a nightmare to defend for Black:
19…Qb6 20.d7 Rxc6 21.Rxc6 Qxc6 22.Bxf8 Qxd7 23.Bxg7 Kxg7 24.Qd3 White has a decisive advantage;
It looks like 19…Re8! is the best defense. After 20.Qxd4 (20.d7? is exactly what Black wants. Now 20…Nxd7! 21.cxd7 Qxd7 and Black is simply a pawn up) 20…Ne4! 21.Qd3 Nxd6 22.Qxd6 Qxd6 23.Bxd6 White has a big advantage, although whether it is winning or not still has to be proven
19.Nb2 Nd5 20.Nd3 a5 21.Re1 b4?
Better was to precede this move with 21…Nc3 22.Qd2 b4 23.Bb2 Qb5
22.Bb2 Nc3 23.Bxc3 dxc3 24.Qb3
The point — this move would not have been possible if Black had played 21.Nc3 first before …b5–b4.
24…Qf5
[24…Qb5 25.Qd5]
25.Qc4 Qxf3
Black should have played 25…Rfd8 to try and contain the white pawns.
26.d7! Rc7 27.Re7!
White’s play in this final stage is very confident and direct.
27…Bh6 28.Ne5 Qf6 29.Rxf7! Rxf7 30.Nxf7 Rxd7
Of course not 30…Qxf7 31.d8Q+
31.Nxh6+ Kg7 32.Ng4 Rd4 33.Qb5 Qf3
[33…Rxg4? 34.Qd7+ wins the rook]
34.Ne3 Rd2 35.Rf1 Rxa2 36.c6 c2 37.Qc4 b3 38.c7 1–0
There were a couple of special prizes given and I was delighted to see the name of Ms. Jerlyn Mae San Diego as “Best Player 2000-below.” Jerlyn is the younger sister of WIM Marie Antoinette San Diego of the UAAP Women’s Chess Champion Dela Salle Lady Archers.
Do you know what is so striking about this victory? Jerlyn is just 14 years old! She is a grade 8 student of the First Uniting Christian School in Dasmariñas, Cavite. This brave lass scored 5/9 in Dubai on four wins, two draws and three losses, including defeating two International Masters. She earned a Woman’s International Master (WIM) norm for her efforts (you need three norms plus a minimum rating of 2000 to get the full title).
Two years ago Jerlyn pleasantly stunned the Philippines’ chess federation by winning six (6!) gold medals in the ASEAN Youth Chess Championships held in Malaysia by sweeping the individual and team events in standard, rapid and blitz chess for the Girls 12-Under category. Now she is 14 and still advancing rapidly. Here is her slugfest against the Indian IM Rithvik Raja, a 15-year old prodigy from Hyderabad, India.
Raja Rithvik R (2391) — San Diego, Jerlyn Mae (1836) [B38]
21st Dubai Open 2019 Dubai (6.35), 06.04.2019
1.d4 g6 2.Nf3 Bg7 3.c4 c5 4.e4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nc6 6.Be3 d6 7.Nc3 Nf6 8.Be2 Bd7 9.0–0 0–0 10.f3 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 Bc6 12.Qd2 a5 13.b3 Nd7 14.Be3 Nc5 15.Rab1 Qb6 16.Rfc1 Qb4 17.Qb2 Qb6 18.a3?
The usual move here is 18.Qd2, which is much superior to the actual move played here. You will see why in a moment.
18…Bh6! 19.Bd4
After 19.Bxh6? we get a smothered mate with 19…Nd3+ 20.Kh1 Nf2+ 21.Kg1 Nh3+ 22.Kh1 Qg1+ 23.Rxg1 Nf2#. Sweet! The smothered mate is well known to most players but for those casual players who are seeing it for the first time it is quite impressive. I remember many years ago during the PAYA chess team championships I managed to execute this mating maneuver against the top board of San Agustin, and the audience gathered around spontaneously erupted into applause, with cheers of “hayop!” Undeserved, yes, but still sweet!
19…Bxc1
A bird in hand is worth two in the bush, right? Hard to resist winning the exchange right away, but actually after some analysis it looks to me that 19…Qxb3! is best. Then after 20.Rc2 (20.Qxb3? Nxb3) 20…Qxb2 21.Rcxb2 Ne6 not only is Black a pawn ahead, but his position is better.
20.Qxc1 e5 21.Be3 Qd8 22.Qd2 Ne6 23.Rd1 f5 24.Qxd6 Qxd6 25.Rxd6 Kf7
Black is the exchange up but White’s pieces are working well together and so his position is at least equal.
26.Nd5 Rad8 27.Rxd8 Rxd8 28.Bb6 Ra8 29.Kf2 a4 30.b4 fxe4 31.fxe4 Nf4 32.Bf1 h5 33.g3 Ne6= 34.Ke3 Rc8 35.Kd2 g5 36.Be3 g4 37.Be2 Rg8 38.Kc3 Ng5 39.Bxg5 Rxg5 40.c5 Bxd5?
Clearly a mistake. White’s pawn become connected and very dangerous now.
41.exd5 Rf5 42.b5! Ke7 43.b6 Kd7 44.Bb5+ Kc8 45.c6?
White violates a rule of endgame play — never be in a hurry. Simply 45.Bd3! to vacate b5 for his king is winning.
45…Rf6 46.Kc4 e4! 47.Kd4 Rf2 48.d6 Rd2+ 49.Kc5 bxc6 50.Kxc6 Rc2+ 51.Kd5
White just needs one tempo. If, for example, it was his move then d6–d7+, …Kd8, b6–b7 wins instantly.
51…Rd2+ 52.Ke6?
The losing move. Correct is 52.Kc6 Rc2+! (52…e3? 53.d7+ Rxd7 54.Ba6+ Kd8 55.b7 wins for White) 53.Kd5 Rd2+ 54.Kc6 Rc2+ draw.
52…e3!
Now Black takes over.
53.Ba6+ Kb8 54.d7 e2 55.Bxe2 Rxe2+ 56.Kd6 Rd2+ 57.Ke7 Kb7 58.d8Q Rxd8 59.Kxd8 Kxb6 60.Kd7 Kc5 61.Ke6 Kc4 62.Ke5 Kb3 63.Kd4 Kxa3 64.Kc3 Ka2 65.Kc2 a3 66.Kc1 Kb3 67.Kb1 a2+ 68.Ka1 Ka3 0–1
Mate is forced: 68…Ka3 69.h4 gxh3 70.g4 h2 71.g5 h1Q#
Bobby Ang is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), he taught accounting in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) for 25 years and is currently Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies.
